Effect of soil temperature on disease development in melon plants infected by Monosporascus cannonballus

The effect of soil temperature on melon collapse induced by Monosporascus cannonballus was studied in the laboratory and in the field. In the laboratory, ascospore germination and hyphal penetration into melon roots were enhanced by increasing the temperature from 20 to 32°C. The optimum temperature for mycelial growth of five isolates of M. cannonballus was 30°C. In the field, the effect of temperature was studied in experiments conducted during the winter and autumn cropping seasons from 1995 to 1998. Disease progress was much faster in the autumn than in the winter crop seasons. Disease incidence reached 100% in the three consecutive autumn seasons studied. In the winter seasons, however, planting date influenced disease incidence. Early planting, at the beginning of January, resulted in a low disease incidence (6–26%, 125 days after planting), whereas planting at the end of January resulted in higher disease incidence (72–88%, 95–119 days after planting). In plots in which the soil was artificially heated to 35°C during the winter season, disease incidence reached 85%, as in the autumn season. Plants grown during the winter in unheated soil, or in artificially heated soil disinfected with methyl bromide, did not collapse. Root colonization by the pathogen was higher in the autumn and in heated soil than in the winter season in nonheated soil. Fifty per cent of root segments were colonized 35, 42 and 67 days after planting in the winter-heated, autumn and winter-unheated plots, respectively. A high correlation was found between soil temperatures above 20°C during the first 30 days after planting and disease severity. It is suggested that soil temperature during the early stages of plant development is an important factor in disease development and the expression of melon collapse caused by M. cannonballus.